Devil's Quoits
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  Shown within Oxfordshire | |
| Location | Stanton Harcourt grid reference SP41110471 |
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| Coordinates | 51.74085°N -1.405439°W / 51.74085°N 1.405439°E Coordinates: longitude degrees < 0 with hemisphere flag {{#coordinates:}}: invalid longitude |
| Type | Henge and Stone circle |
| History | |
| Periods | Neolithic / Bronze Age |
The Devil's Quoits (grid reference SP411048) is a henge and stone circle near the village of Stanton Harcourt in Oxfordshire, England. The site is believed to be between 4000 and 5000 years old, and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.[1] The Quoits were restored between 2002 and 2008, with stones which had been knocked over or had fallen over being re-uprighted, and the surrounding earthworks re-built.
Name
The name "Devil's Quoits" is associated with a legend that states that the Devil once played quoits with a beggar for his soul and won by flinging the great stones.[2]
Description
The henge is of Late Neolithic date.[3] The henge ditch enclosed a circular area up to 120 metres across, with opposed entrances facing almost due east and west.[3] The northern half of the henge appears to have had a second enclosing ditch circuit.[3]
Within the henge was a stone circle and a central stone setting which may have been put up after the henge had been in use for some time, in the Early Bronze Age.[3] The stone circle had a slightly ovoid plan, with a maximum diameter of 79 metres, and followed the same axis as the henge itself.[3] It originally featured 36 stones, most of which were removed by the end of the Medieval period.[3]
The henge had survived as a slight earthwork until World War II, when it was levelled in advance of runway construction.[3] There was only one stone standing in situ in 1940, while two others had been re-erected nearby.[3] The site was seriously damaged by the construction of an airfield in 1940 which involving the construction of concrete runways and the levelling of a large area.[3] The site has been further damaged by gravel extraction since then.[3] Excavations carried out in advance of gravel extraction in 1972, 1973 and 1988 located a complete plan of the Devil's Quoits.[3] Excavation of the ditch terminals indicated repeated use and deposition, with finds including hearths, animal and human bones.[3]
Restoration
The Devil's Quoits were restored between 2002 and 2008, with stones being re-uprighted, and the surrounding earthworks re-built.
The earthworks were restored to the approximate condition they had at the beginning of Roman times, when the ditch began to be filled with ploughsoil and the bank was eroding.[4] This was to ensure the preservation of the remaining Neolithic and Bronze Age deposits in the ditch.[4] Soil had to be imported onto the site in order to re-form the bank.[4] It was built up to 2 metres high which is only around half its original height.[4]
Several of the standing stones had been unearthed during the archaeological excavations, where they had been buried in the ditch or within stoneholes.[4] Others had been encountered during topsoil stripping or during quarrying operations.[4] These were all re-erected in what may have been their original positions taking into account the fact that the largest uprights appear to have been near the two entrances to the circle.[4] Twenty spaces remained which were filled with modern conglomerate blocks sourced from a nearby quarry at Ducklington.[4]
References
- ^ Historic England. "The Devil's Quoits (1006359)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Ditchfield (1912) Oxfordshire, pages 99-100. Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Historic England. "Devils Quoits (336520)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 12 August 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "The Devil's Work", Archaeology Issue 107 July / August 2009